“I didn’t pay it. Take it off!” Elle started pulling all the money she had out of her pocket and throwing it on the desk.
“I can’t do that—”
“Take it off!” Elle’s eyes began to water all over again.
For the first time in Elle’s life, Chloe grabbed her arms. “Elle, it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.”
Chapter Forty
March
Chapter Forty-One
April
Chapter Forty-Two
May
Chapter Forty-Three
The Scariest Place on Earth
Now that it was officially June, the weather had turned into a hot summer in the city. Elle walked down the hall, looking at all the shorts, skirts, and dresses. She still wore the same things she had been wearing the past few months, and that was jeans and a three-dollar shirt from her favorite place on earth. She had grown to understand Chloe’s love for black, especially the super-faded, old black t-shirts with some heavy metal band she could barely read since the letters were peeled off.
Since her freak-out in the office, Elle had learned to flip her switch. Despite Nero paying off her tuition, Elle had worked every night to keep busy. When she went to bed at night, she would cry herself to sleep, having to flip over her pillow from the pool she created. Then, as soon as she got out of bed in the morning, she would shut down and become a zombie. Nothing would make her happy and nothing would make her sad. Then it would start all over again as soon as her face hit the pillow.
Every day, she would cry herself to sleep less and less until the zombie filled her whole. Almost all of her. Her thoughts were now hard to come by. It was better for her not to think at all; otherwise, she would have lost her mind, thinking about Nero.
She trained herself not to look at him, and eventually he got the memo and didn’t come near her anymore. What’s more, she no longer felt his stares at the back of her head. Nero didn’t have to follow her any longer; no one even talked to her besides Chloe.
When she heard about Sebastian being in critical condition and having the whole right side of his face burned off, she had pieced it all together. She realized no one had gotten a fucking cold. Nero had kept his promise of watching everyone who had ever hurt her scream in pain. Unfortunately, the latter—of her screaming his name—had also come true.
Elle couldn’t believe how she hadn’t seen how terrible they all were. They clearly all killed for a living. She made sure she and Chloe stayed away from all of them, including Maria.
Ultimately, Elle did feel bad for not talking to Maria, though. She couldn’t help who her family was, yet Elle knew if she and Maria stayed friends, that gave an opportunity for Nero.
Elle had wished the past few months would fly by, but unfortunately, they were the slowest of her entire life. The graduating senior activities only made it that much slower and that much more irritating. She had to listen to all the chattering about who was taking who to prom. Yes, she had heard several girls ask Nero, and yes, she and Chloe hadn’t attended. It wasn’t like they would have gone if she and Nero were still together. Chloe wouldn’t have been able to handle it, and Elle would have never gone without her. Then there was this other thing of her being absolutely miserable at school for the past four years.
Elle was closer than ever to leaving; only two more weeks stood in front of her freedom. She and Chloe both were going to attend Stanford in the fall, and they could finally move on with their lives.
Brring.
Elle didn’t even realize English class had started, and now it was already over. She picked up her satchel and headed for the door.
“Elle, could I speak to you?” she heard Mr. Evans speak behind her at his desk.
Elle nodded for Chloe to go on to class then she turned around and went to Mr. Evans’ desk.
“Yes?”
She noticed a worried look in his eye.
“I have finished grading the final essays, and I would like you to take a look at yours early.”
“Okay.” The final essay was actually a redo of the first one he had assigned to the class, a five-hundred-word essay on who you love the most. This time, he had asked for it to be a five-to-seven-page paper. Basically, he wanted us to see our own growth and how our feelings could possibly change toward a person.
Mr. Evans held a huge packet of paper in his hands. “I would like to say I’m sorry about your father. That must have been hard. I can tell you really love him.”
Elle held out her hand. “Thank you.”
Mr. Evans placed the big stack of paper in her hands. She hadn’t remembered it being so long.
“You know, sometimes I accidentally staple students’ papers together.” He let go of the papers. “You can read it in here. I’ll need it back. I don’t want the students to think I’m playing favorites by letting you see your grade first.”
Elle stared at Mr. Evans before she turned to take a seat.
After she saw a big red “A” at the top, Elle flipped through the pages until she got to a paper she clearly hadn’t written with Nero’s name at the top of the paper. She quickly shut her eyes.
Elle took a deep breath and made sure her off switch was shut tight before she opened her eyes and started reading.
Nero’s paper began of him talking about his mother, of how much he had loved her and still did. He talked about how he had never been the same after her death. Elle stopped reading at the next sentence.
She bit her lip, and then she started reading once more.
At the beginning of the semester, when you asked who I loved the most, an image of my mother popped in my head. When you asked me who I loved the most for the second time, it wasn’t an image of my mother. Instead, it was replaced by an image of a strawberry blonde with big, blue eyes.
It took me a long time to figure out the exact moment I fell in love with her, partly because I denied that I did until it was too late.
I fucked up so badly and did so many things wrong, to the point of no return, so I let her go. The selfless part inside of me wants to say I did the right thing, and the selfish part of me thinks I made the biggest mistake of my life. I guess the selfless side won out because, every time I look at her and see what I did, I realize I don’t deserve her.
I was never supposed to fall in love with her, but that was the best mistake of my life. I will always love her; I have ever since I purposely bumped into her in the hallway.
Elle stared at the big red “A+” at the bottom of the paper. She closed her eyes and held the switch down perfectly in her mind. After a moment, Elle was able to open her eyes.
She stood and went back to Mr. Evans, putting the paper on his desk. Then, Elle went to walk away.
“You know, I stand in front of the classroom every day, and all I see is you with your nose in your books and your papers.”
Elle turned around. “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
“Yes, but you don’t get to see him.”
Elle looked down at the ground. “Why are you doing this?”
“I know you’ve had it pretty shitty in here, Elle. I’d hate to see it just as shitty out there.”
Elle looked back up at Mr. Evans and nodded. She headed out the classroom door and started walking to her next one.
She continued the day and couldn’t help picturing what Nero had written in her mind. The light switch in her head started to flicker, wanting to come on.
When the lunch bell rang, she knew she would have to see Nero, and seeing him right now was something she wasn’t going to be able to take until she had control. She wanted to think this out, sleep on it and decide if she wanted to go down that long, hard road again.
Yes.
No.
They got halfway to the cafeteria before Elle couldn’t go any farther. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Uh, Elle, are you sure?” Chloe asked her.
“Yes.” Elle and Chloe hadn’t gone to the bathroom at school in yea
rs. They would hold it in no matter what because the scariest place on Earth was the girls’ bathroom.
Elle practically ran in and went straight to the sinks. She ran the cold water and stuck her hands under.
Chloe stayed right by the door. “Are you okay?”
Elle didn’t answer; instead, she leaned her head down and started splashing water on her face.
A stall flew open.
Elle’s head was shoved hard into the sink, the faucet hitting the top of her head. Elle’s hair was pulled back and she stood, looking in the mirror to see Cassandra standing behind her.
“Chloe, run!” Elle screamed.
Elle’s head started to throb, but her adrenaline kicked in. She grabbed for the hand behind her head and started to dig her nails in. Her other hand went for Cassandra’s hair, and she started to pull as hard as she could. When she heard Cassandra scream, she used all her body weight to shove Cassandra from behind, knocking herself loose.
Elle flew around and immediately felt dizzy. She wasn’t able to move fast enough before Cassandra ran forward and jammed her into the sink, making Elle fall to the ground.
Cassandra stood over her, just like she had years ago. “Nero is not here to protect you now.” She rammed her foot back and kicked her in the stomach.
Elle tried to fight her eyes from closing.
“He dumped your ass because you are fucking nothing but a waitress.” She rammed her foot back into her stomach.
She felt the puddle of blood soak under her face just as her tears on the pillow had done.
“This is for Sebastian.”
Light switch off.
* * *
Chloe’s hands landed on the bathroom door before she swung it open. Her legs ran as fast as she could with the image of Elle’s face in her mind. Chloe’s brain couldn’t think, yet her body knew what to do.
In what felt like a split-second, she was in the cafeteria, heading straight for the other side of the room to the table that held the only people in this whole entire school who would help.
Chloe hadn’t spoken a word to any of them in months, let alone the one who clearly had destroyed her best friend, but that didn’t matter anymore.
“Nero!”
The whole table stood at her words, and Nero’s worried face looked her in the eyes. When she saw his eyes—the visible pain and worry—she wondered whom had ended up destroying whom.
“Elle. Bathroom,” she got out between short breaths.
Nero flew out of the cafeteria and they all followed behind. He ran down the hallway until he pushed through the girls’ bathroom door with them all following.
When Chloe saw the pool of blood and Elle lying helpless on the floor, she didn’t know if she would survive this time, or if she even wanted to. She leaned back up against the wall to steady herself. The whole thing played slowly before her. No, Elle.
Nero fell to his knees beside Elle’s limp body. “Elle?”
Chloe covered her ears when Vincent started kicking the stalls in, yelling obscenities and looking for the person who had done it. She started sliding down the wall, her legs unable to hold her body while Leo took out his phone and dialed 9-1-1.
Nero rubbed Elle’s hair out of her face. “It’s going to be okay. I’m here, baby,” he crooned to her.
Chloe finally made it to the floor and gripped her legs to her body. Why couldn’t I help her? Why did I leave her? She heard Amo’s voice trying to comfort her. Why do I always just stand and watch?
Vincent came to stand over Nero and Elle. “No one is fucking in here.”
Nero didn’t take his eyes off Elle, still rubbing her head. “Tell me who did it.”
Chloe squeezed her body tighter. Why can’t I cry for her? What’s wrong with me?
Nero turned to look at Chloe. “Fucking tell me!”
Do something right! “Cassandra,” she whispered.
“Amo, make sure she fucking understands.” Nero went back to crooning to Elle.
Her view became blocked by Amo’s body as he sat down in front of her. She now stared at his face, yet she was seeing past it at the same time.
“Chloe, tell them you saw nothing. You don’t know who did it,” Amo spoke to her.
I saw nothing. I don’t know who did it. I saw nothing. I don’t know who did it. I was in a car wreck; that’s all I know. I was in a car wreck; no one hurt me…
Chapter Forty-Four
Beep…Beep…Beep…
Nero sat in the waiting room with his crew and Chloe, waiting to hear from the doctor. Not like they’re going to tell us shit. We’re not family.
The last few months had been pure torture on him. That night, now months ago, he had talked to his father, yelling at him because he had known his dad had said something to her. In response, he had reminded Nero of what had happened to his mother, asked him if he wanted the same fate for Elle. So, Nero had let her go for good.
At first, he’d stayed close by her, something in him secretly hoping she’d give in and talk to him and it would make him change his mind. Then, when she’d made it a point of ignoring him, not even looking at him, avoiding his face, he had backed off, giving her the space she needed because he couldn’t take her not being able to even look at him.
Nero had watched her from afar at that point. She had kept working and adding hours on, despite him paying for her school. He had spent every fucking night the past few months following her to work, watching her from his car and then following her back home to make sure she made it there safely.
The worst part of it all was watching her turn into someone else. She didn’t look or act the same, and it was all because of him. I fucked her up. He knew it was all on him.
Elle wasn’t alone, though; Nero had changed, too. He couldn’t sleep without seeing her, so it was better not to sleep at all. Nothing tasted good to him besides fucking strawberries, and eating fucking strawberries was painful. Before Elle, he had fucked every girl who looked his way; now, he couldn’t even look at them because it wasn’t the girl he wanted to look at. He had several offers to go to prom, turning them all down. It had gotten so ridiculous that, when a girl came up to him, he just waved them away with his hand.
His balls officially hated his guts. His dick had been inside so many girls, and then, when his dick had finally gone inside Elle, there was no comparison. He couldn’t even try to fuck someone else. It wouldn’t have done shit. Nero had to take a freezing-cold shower, one right after another, to ease the pain in his groin.
Now, after seeing Elle helpless on the bathroom floor, none of it mattered anymore. He didn’t think Elle was better off without him any longer, and he wasn’t his father—he would protect Elle above anything else from now on. Not even the family will come before her. Nero was now going to take what was his, whether she wanted him to or not.
Nero saw Elle’s parents and brother come in, asking to see her. The nurses told them to remain in the waiting room for the doctor.
He watched them come in. Her mother had tears flowing from her eyes and so did Josh.
Nero stared at her father as he rolled in.
“What happened?” Elle’s father asked Chloe.
Nero stood. “We need to talk, alone.”
“I didn’t ask—”
“Now,” Nero said coldly, making the waiting room go silent.
He walked out and down the hall to a quiet part of the hospital, her father following behind.
“What makes you think I want to talk to you? You were the worst thing to ever happen to my daughter,” Elle’s father spat at him.
Nero flexed his jaw. “What makes you think I want to fucking talk to a father who doesn’t give a shit enough to see his daughter is getting the shit beat out of her at school?”
“What? She is?” Concern showed on his face.
Nero stood right above him, looking down at him. “Maybe if you lay off the pain pills and fucking got over the fact that you can’t walk anymore, you would have seen. But I know
, deep down, you knew, and don’t tell me you didn’t.”
Elle’s father looked down. “No, I—”
“I don’t want to fucking hear it. When they look her over, I guarantee they’re going to see past injuries, and there’s no telling how many they will find. I suggest you talk to the doctors alone, unless you want her mother finding out.”
He nodded in understanding. “What are you doing here? If you think you and my daughter are getting back together, you’re mistaken. I know all about the Caruso family; I hear the rumors. I will do whatever it takes to keep her from you. I think we both know you’ve done enough already.”
“I know I fucked up. That’s the difference between you and me.” Nero squatted down so he could clearly get his message through. “She will go to college here now. She will live with me now. Elle is mine now. You try to keep her from me, I will tell Elle the truth about your little forklift accident rollover. About how you were drunk while operating machinery.” Nero saw the surprise in his face. “Yeah, see, I have friends in this city, and if you don’t care that I’ll tell her the truth, then I’ll have them kill you. That way, I can still look Elle in the face every morning. Are we clear?”
Elle’s father took a minute before he nodded.
Nero rose back up. “Good. Now understand, I know you’re still her father and I’m not going to come between Elle and her family, so you and I might as well start to get along.” Nero held out his hand.
Elle’s father stared at Nero’s hand before he finally shook it. “Elle better not get hurt again because of you.”
“She won’t,” Nero said matter-of-factly. He went to walk off before he remembered to add something. “Oh, and Josh, he started to get picked on while on the bus. I handled it, but you better not turn your head the other way again. You do, and I’m sure Elle won’t mind Josh living with us for a while.”
Satisfied, Nero finally walked off.
* * *
Beep…Beep…Beep…
Nero (Made Men #1) Page 26